1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a chip conveyor for discharging chips produced in a machining region of a machine tool to the outside of the machine tool.
2. Background of the Disclosure
As described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H04-183553, hinge-plate type and scraper type chip conveyors are conventionally known as the above-mentioned chip conveyor.
A hinge-plate type chip conveyor (conventional example 1) includes a pair of endless chains disposed in parallel in a horizontal direction, a large number of hinge plates continuously connected along a turning direction of the pair of endless chains and connected to the endless chains at both sides thereof, and scrapers erected at appropriate intervals on the hinge plates.
Meanwhile, a scraper type chip conveyor (conventional example 2) includes a pair of endless chains disposed in parallel in a horizontal direction, and a plurality of scrapers provided at appropriate intervals along a turning direction of the pair of endless chains and connected to the pair of endless chains so that they extend over the pair of endless chains.
The hinge-plate type chip conveyor of the conventional example 1 and the scraper type chip conveyor of the conventional example 2 have their respective merits and demerits; Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H04-183553 additionally suggests a new scraper type chip conveyor (conventional example 3) which has been improved in the demerits of the scraper type chip conveyor.
This new scraper type chip conveyor has a configuration in which the scrapers are provided to project toward the inside of the endless chains and a chip guide plate is provided to separate the space defined by the endless chains into upper and lower spaces, and this chip conveyor is configured to convey chips put onto the chip guide plate, scraping them by the scrapers, and discharge them through a discharge port.
Thus, according to the scraper type chip conveyor of the conventional example 3, adhesion of powdery chips to the scrapers is prevented because coolant flows downward along the chip guide plate when chips are scraped upward on the chip guide plate. Further, even if curly chips are caught in the scrapers when chips are put onto the chip guide plate, entanglement of curly chips around the scrapers is prevented because the chips are shook off when the scrapers are reversed at the discharge port.
Further, conventionally, the above-described chip conveyors are not only used being set above a coolant tank but also used being immersed in a coolant tank as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-097544. The chip conveyor disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-097544 includes a circular cylindrical filter in a cover body and is configured to filter dirty coolant returned from the machining region of the machine tool and then discharge it to the outside.